“What have we done as a revolutionary generation with the aspirations and faith of the people who wish for death? Given the situation that even our blessed society and our intellectuals and elites are so desperate and the motives for improving the situation have faded and there is no hope for reform. To the extent that death is preferable to life, let us think of ways to improve resilience so that the country can survive the crisis.” (Former Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Reza Tabesh, Hamshahri Online website, 9 June 2020)
This is a shocking confession by a former member of the Iranian regime’s parliament and the deputy chairman of the Omid faction which belongs to the regime’s so-called “reformist” faction.
He added: “If from the beginning… we acted revolutionary, we had broken the pen of the whole press, and we had shut down all the corrupt magazines and the corrupt press. And we had tried their leaders and banned corrupt parties, and we had punished their leaders. And we set up gallows in the great squares, and we reaped the corrupted, these troubles would not happen… I apologize to God Almighty and to the dear nation. We were not revolutionary people… If we were revolutionaries, we would not allow these to exist. We banned all parties, we banned all fronts, and accepted just one party! And that was Hezbollah, the party of the oppressed, and I repent for this mistake that I made.”
While confessing about the 40 years of disastrous mistakes by Iran’s regime and claiming they were not “revolutionaries” and trying to repent, this ex-lawmaker is showing this reality that the regime’s deceit derived to the nation of people who mostly live under the poverty line and this not only affected the ordinary people, but also the society of the blessed, intellectuals and elites.
The truths hidden in the paragraphs above are as follows:
- The narrator of these statements admits that the Iranian regime, a clerical system with the mask of a ‘revolutionary’ and the hypocritical cover of ‘Islam’, have done something with the ‘ideal and faith’ of the people who ‘wish death’ under the umbrella of this regime.
- He confessed that even the intellectuals and the elites have no more hope in reform and changing something in this regime and this has been replaced with despair and disappointment with this rule and searching for other solutions.
- The frustration over this government is so great among the people that they wish for death; in other words, they prefer death than to live under the shadow of the bayonets of this rule.
- ‘Resilience’ of the people, which means their tolerance threshold is below zero. This, of course, with different literature, is a clear acknowledgment of the explosive situation in Iran’s restive society.
- It is necessary to think about this dangerous situation as soon as possible because if it continues like this, there will be no trace of the clerical dictatorship amid crises.
Explaining his remarks, this member of the regime’s parliament referred to the following incident: “In the last few days, I have been confronted with the death of my young and educated brother, Dr. Mohammad Sufi, an expert and environmental and nature activist, which happened to be during the environmental week and was caused by the deadly and mysterious coronavirus disease, through text messages of sympathy and condolences, texts from students, graduates, and professors shocked and spiked me.”
The question is, what was the content of these text messages?
According to this lawmaker, the desire of the Iranian community of experts and intellectuals was not even to escape from this clerical hell, but to a level of dissatisfaction that is unimaginable.
“Students, graduates, and professors, sometimes, despite their social status and financial means, did not speak about migrating or are not even complaining. Rather, they nobly ‘wished for death’ because of the observation of the inadequacies and the intensification of poverty in society and the occurrence of violent crime. Remembering this now that I’m writing, makes me tremble and want to cry, and in my mind, raising this question: ‘As a revolutionary generation, what have we done with the aspirations and faith of the people who wish to die because of their grief?”
Acknowledgment of the explosive situation of Iranian society
Mohammad Reza Tabesh, while explaining ‘Resilience’ and defining this concept to the social sphere, made the point that all over there is the recognition of the explosive situation in Iran.
“In the social sphere, when it comes to resilience, attention to power, strength, ability to repair and the desired capacity in society such as consumption, energy, communications, transportation, food, economic tensions, and social solidarity, especially in the face of society with disorders and turmoil is considered.
“Therefore, it can be concluded that a social system is resilient when it can absorb temporary or permanent risks and adapt to rapidly changing conditions. Resilience plays a major role in social crises and is inversely related to social vulnerability, which is unfortunately reflected in unemployment, poverty, homelessness, migration, suicide, theft and robbery, divorce, addiction, and more.”
He added: “The situation in the country is such that if the internal crises and foreign sanctions and the coronavirus crisis do not lead to protests and poor people’s movements, the government will certainly have to make difficult and serious decisions.”
And about this subject the state-run website Bahar on 2 May 2020: “If the tolerated rage is accumulating for a long time inside us, it will be converting to hatred. Also, if the grief is prolonged, it will lead to sadness, and if the grief is prolonged, it becomes depression, and if the depression is prolonged, it becomes cruel to oneself or another, which leads to suicide or to kill others.
“A healthy society is one that allows the experience of genuine anger, that is, a protective and balancing anger, and its discharge. Also, by opening hopeful paths and horizons, it does not allow grief to last so long that it turns into sadness, depression, and cruelty. In fact, a healthy society allows natural negative emotions to manifest in a healthy and adaptable way and not to become incompatible. When incompatible excitement permeates and perpetuates within a large section of society, we must expect abnormal and violent behavior.”
Read More:
Iran, the Killings in the 2019 November Protests and the Consequences for the Regime
